Something Is Killing the Children—Volume 3

Comic Info

Something Is Killing the Children #13

Reprints Something Is Killing the Children #11-15 (October 2020-February 2021).  The town of Archer’s Peak, Wisconsin has gone on lockdown.  Monsters have trapped much of the town in the local gym and the Order of St. George is moving in to cut the losses and keep the story of the monsters from hitting the press.  Erica Slaughter finds that time is running out and stopping the monsters before the entire town is wiped out as collateral damage might not be possible.

Written by James Tynion IV, Something Is Killing the Children—Volume 3 is a Boom! Studios horror comic book collection.  Following Something Is Killing the Children—Volume 2, the series features art by Werther Dell’edera.

Something Is Killing the Children has been a fun discovery this year.  Sometimes other publishers than the “Big Three” are questionable.  They either publish erratically or they have so-so art.  Over the years since the Image shake-up, this has become less and less of the case (in fact a lot of smaller press books keep their schedules better than the bigger companies).  Something Is Killing the Children is a book that fans of horror and comics in any of the major publishers should check out.

The series isn’t a series to jump into, and it has built slowly over the last three volumes.  This collection essentially wraps up the first story arc with Erica and the problem in Archer’s Peak being solved.  Tynion IV does a good job of ratcheting up the tension due to the multiple factors involved in the story, and there were a number of ways it could have gone…and I didn’t necessarily expect it to end the way it did (which is always a plus when you are a jaded comic book reader).

Something Is Killing the Children #15

The mystery of Erica and the House of Slaughter is fleshed out a bit more in the volume.  You finally get some answers about the stuffed animals (I still don’t love that aspect of the story), but it does make sense in the context of what is going on.  The future seems to be a question for Erica’s character at the end of this volume since she has allegedly severed ties with the House of Slaughter, but the Order of St. George is a larger group which promises to probably get involved in Erica’s actions.

Something Is Killing the Children won’t be the longest book you read with a lot of the story told through art and solid layouts of action.  I do sometimes “miss” when we are supposed to read cross page in this series which can sometimes be frustrating when you have to backtrack, but that sometimes also is reader error…but it does get easier as you continue through the book.

I am really interested in where this series goes next and think it is highly possible that an even better storyline could be worked out for the next volume since much of the establishing backstory doesn’t need to be messed with.  Horror comics feel like they are rise again as trends change, and Something Is Killing the Children might be at the forefront!  Something Is Killing the Children—Volume 3 is followed by Something Is Killing the Children—Volume 4.

Related Links:

Something Is Killing the Children—Volume 1

Something Is Killing the Children—Volume 2

Something Is Killing the Children—Volume 4